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Posted October 14, 2012 12:51 am - Updated October 14, 2012 01:02 am

Iranian and Benghazi Lies

Of all the lies told by the Obama Administration, those told about the Iranian nuclear weapons program and the assassination of Ambassador Christopher Stevens are among the most shocking and reprehensible.

During the Vice Presidential Debate on Thursday night, Vice President Biden claimed the intelligence the Obama White House receives is so accurate that President Obama knows the exact progress of the Iranian nuclear weapons program.Biden claimed that if the Iranians do have enough weapons grade uranium, they cannot develop a bomb to put it in.The Wall Street Journal commented on Saturday,

On Iran, Mr. Biden broke new ground, though most of the media missed it. To a question about the Administration's willingness to stop the Tehran regime from going nuclear, he said what matters isn't Iran's ability to enrich uranium to weapons grade. It's whether it can build and deliver a bomb.

"They are a good way away," he said. "When my friend [Paul Ryan] talks about fissile material, they have to take this highly enriched uranium, get it from 20% up. Then they have to be able to have something to put it in. There is no weapon that the Iranians have at this point."

"Let's all calm down a little bit here," Mr. Biden said a few minutes later.

In other words, Iran may have made progress toward enriching enough uranium to sufficient strength to build a bomb in the past four years, but that's immaterial. Based on the Vice President's intelligence, Iran isn't close to getting the trigger mechanism, missiles and all the other things needed to deploy a weapon. So don't worry.

Hmmm. For a decade, the U.S. and Europe have focused on coaxing and coercing the Iranians to stop enrichment above all else. That's because this is the hardest thing about building a bomb. Iran has in any case worked to develop missiles and triggers with help from Russians, North Koreans and others. In a clearer moment this summer, Mitt Romney said he would insist that Iran not enrich any uranium, even ostensibly for peaceful purposes. He failed to repeat this demand in his foreign-policy speech this week.

To hear Mr. Biden tell it, the Obama Administration now has a new red line on Iran. The mullahs can enrich as much uranium as they wish as long as they "don't have something to put it in." This isn't the red line Israel's Bibi Netanyahu had in mind during his recent speech before the United Nations. Nor are Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others looking for proof of an Iranian ICBM before they decide to go nuclear themselves. Iran becomes a regional nuclear power when it demonstrates its ability to get the bomb at almost a moment's notice, which is when it has developed enough fuel for it.

President Obama apparently thought if he did not bother to fortify the United States Consulate in Benghazi, the Islamic Terrorists would realize that Obama was their friend and the Terrorists would not attack the Consulate.Ambassador Christopher Stevens understood al Qaeda far better and repeatedly requested more security.When al Qaeda attacked the Consulate and assassinated Ambassador Stevens on 9/11/2012, Obama tried for two weeks to pretend the attack and assassination were not part of a planned Islamic Terrorist attack.

During the Thursday night Debate, Vice President Biden scapegoated the intelligence community trying to shift blame for Obama’s incompetence and naiveté onto our intelligence community,

On the attacks in Benghazi, Mr. Biden turned uncharacteristically terse. A day before the debate, a House hearing revealed that the U.S. Embassy in Libya had been concerned about a rising al Qaeda-linked Islamist threat and had requested, but was denied, security reinforcements.

"Well, we weren't told they wanted more security again," said Mr. Biden, contradicting the testimony of State Department officials. He also blamed "the intelligence community" for the Administration's initial and false assertions that Ambassador Chris Stevens and three American colleagues were killed in a "spontaneous" protest against an anti-Islam video on YouTube. This is the same "intelligence community" he is sure can tell us with certainty when Iran has a bomb and the Taliban is defeated.

Asked Friday about Mr. Biden's claims, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "He was speaking directly for himself and for the President. He meant the White House. . . . No one who testified about this matter suggested that requests for additional security were made to the President or the White House. These are issues appropriately that are handled by security professionals at the State Department. And that's what he was talking about." So blame State and the intelligence community.

Also on Friday, Michael Hayden, former Director of the CIA, and Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security, issued a joint statement refuting the claims of Joe Biden during the Debate,

During the Vice Presidential debate, we were disappointed to see Vice President Biden blame the intelligence community for the inconsistent and shifting response of the Obama Administration to the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. Given what has emerged publicly about the intelligence available before, during, and after the September 11 attack, it is clear that any failure was not on the part of the intelligence community, but on the part of White House decision-makers who should have listened to, and acted on, available intelligence. Blaming those who put their lives on the line is not the kind of leadership this country needs.

When the American people cannot trust the Executive Branch of our Federal government to protect us because they want to make our enemies appear to be nice people, we must realize that our nation and we have been placed in grave danger by the very people we have elected and hired to protect us.